From Louisiana to Long Island, hyperbaric chambers, once used only to treat divers suffering from the bends, are increasingly being used to treat COVID-19 patients with surprising success.
While the numbers are small, doctors at more than a dozen hospitals across the country say hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is saving the lives of even the most critically ill coronavirus patients.
"The results thus far are pretty impressive," Dr. Thomas Serena, founder and director of the SerenaGroup, a family of wound, hyperbaric and research companies, said in a recent interview.
At NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, New York, Dr. Scott Gorenstein, the director of hyperbaric medicine, said, "I'm encouraged that hyperbaric oxygen could be a benefit."
[...] Their study compared 20 COVID-19 patients who received HBOT to 60 similar patients who did not. While their study is being peer-reviewed and has yet to be published, the results they shared are stunning.
Of the 60 patients who did NOT receive HBOT, half of them needed to be placed on ventilators and 13 died. That's a mortality rate of 22%. At the same time, the 20 patients who did receive HBOT, only two needed to be placed on ventilators and both died, which is a much lower mortality rate of 10%.
"It's small numbers," Dr. Lee noted in a cautious tone but added, "The findings suggest that hyperbaric oxygen could reduce the mortality of this disease by half."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 27 2020, @07:42PM (1 child)
During hyperbarics' heyday, there were massive hyperbaric facilities planned - multiple floors with multiple rooms on each floor at elevated pressure.
The cost never balanced with the benefit, HBOT is mostly dismissed as "only useful for the bends" these days, and since you can't deliver it as a pill or an injection - commercialization is unlikely.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2020, @08:46PM
Sure, but the unique thing about this illness is the "happy hypoxia" like seen at high altitude. The patients are still relatively ok but have very low oxygen saturation and may suddenly get worse. There has never been a more obvious application of HBOT to keep the tissue oxygenated, and there are multiple reports of *immediate* improvement. Its obvious many of the symptoms are due to low oxygen levels in the various tissues of the body.